254 THE STORY OF THE TRAPPER 



nothing, he baits a steel-trap with pomatum, covers it 

 deftly with snow, drags the decoy skin about to conceal 

 his own tracks, and goes away in the hope that the 

 marten will come back to this log to guzzle on his prey 

 and sleep. 



If the track is much frequented, or the forest over 

 run with marten tracks, the trapper builds deadfalls, 

 many of them running from tree to tree for miles 

 through the forest in a circle whose circuit brings him 

 back to his cabin. Remnants of these log traps may be 

 seen through all parts of the Rocky Mountain forests. 

 Thirty to forty traps are considered a day s work for 

 one man, six or ten marten all that he expects to take 

 in one round; but when marten are plentiful, the un 

 used traps of to-day may bring a prize to-morrow. 



The Indian trapper would use still another kind of 

 trap. Where the tracks are plainly frequently used 

 runways to watering-places or lair in hollow tree, the 

 Indian digs a pit across the marten s trail. On this he 

 spreads brush in such roof fashion that though the 

 marten is a good climber, if once he falls in, it is al 

 most impossible for him to scramble out. If a poor 

 cackling grouse or &quot; fool-hen &quot; be thrust into the pit, 

 the Indian is almost sure to find a prisoner. This seems 

 to the white man a barbarous kind of trapping; but the 

 poor &quot; fool-hen,&quot; hunted by all the creatures of the 

 forest, never seems to learn wisdom, but invites dis 

 aster by popping out of the brush to stare at every 

 living thing that passes. If she did not fall a victim 

 in the pit, she certainly would to her own curiosity 

 above ground. To the steel-trap the hunter attaches 

 a piece of log to entangle the prisoner s flight as he 

 yushes through the underbush. Once caught in the 



